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Since 2001 Witness Lee's, The Local Church,
has been pursuing Harvest House Publishers and authors John Ankerberg
and John Weldon for $136 million. This arose from comments made in their
Encyclopedia of Cults and New Religions.
Further information can be read here
but in summary the court decided that the alleged libellous statements
were not defamatory as a matter of law.
Interestingly, the court also said that as the book majored on doctrinal
and apologetic issues, "being labelled a 'cult' is not actionable because
the truth or falsity of the statement depends upon one's religious beliefs,
an ecclesiastical matter, which cannot and should not be tried in a
court of law."
Bob Hawkins, Jr., President of Harvest House Publishers, is reported
as saying:
“We hope this ruling will encourage other authors, publishers, and broadcasters to stand strong in their convictions and to continue engaging in responsible dialogue concerning controversial topics without fear of intimidating lawsuits.” Hawkins went on to say, “We have been encouraged by many people who have been praying for us, and we’ve been humbled by the wonderful support we received from media groups and publishers who filed friend–of–the–court briefs on our behalf. Ultimately, we are thankful that we have had the opportunity to experience in profoundly deep ways the faithfulness of God.”
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